What to do and see in Ueno, Asakusa, Kanto: The Best Cultural Events

Sanja Matsuri is one of Tokyo's three great summer festivals. It takes place late in May and celebrates the founding of Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. The festival has been running for over 700 years and today draws about two million visitors to the neighbourhood over the course of three days of processions and dances leading up to a parade of three enormous Mikoshi (portable shrines) carried precariously on the shoulders of locals. The shrines are ornate with black lacquer and gold leaf and elaborate purple and vermilion ropes, and weigh about 1 ton each. There's an incredibly charged atmosphere as the people carrying them shout in rhythm and bounce and jostle the shrines to wake up the spirits inside and encourage them to spread luck and prosperity throughout the surrounding neighbourhoods. The mood of celebration and street party atmosphere is packed with the sights and sounds of formal processions with ancient costumes and traditional music, geisha and taiko performances, yakuza gangsters showing off their tattoos, all mixed with the aroma of hundreds of impromptu food stands in the streets.

First held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in 1934 with the aim of improving bonsai art and developing traditional Japanese culture, the "Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition" has a history of more than 80 years. On display at the venue are the prized creations of selected bonsai enthusiasts. And after rigorous examination of such factors as beauty and condition, the most outstanding works are presented with the Kokufu Award. The oldest and the largest bonsai exhibition in Japan, it is widely known at home and abroad as the place to see the best bonsai in the world.

The Bunkyo Azalea Matsuri is held annually from early April to early May at Nezu Shrine. This is the only time people can enter the shrine's azalea garden. The large 6,600-square-meter garden is filled with about 3,000 colorful azaleas in red, pink, purple, white, etc. Since the 100 varieties of azalea bloom at different times, the garden looks different each time you visit. There are also unusual species of azalea such as the dark red azalea (karafune) and windmill-shaped flowers (hanaguruma).

Since its founding in 1630, Chokokuji temple has been holding the Tori no Ichi outdoor market. It has been nicknamed "Asakusa Tori Temple" since the Edo Period. The temple's Asakusa Tori no Ichi market has stalls selling decorative bamboo rakes (called "kumade") in a wide variety of sizes and designs. When a large rake is sold, the seller gives the customer a loud cheer for family safety and business prosperity and claps his hands. Right next to Chokokuji temple is Otori Shrine. Worshippers can thereby pray to both the Buddhist Otorisama deity at Chokokuji and the Shinto Otorisama deity at Otori Shrine. The stalls line the Kokusai-dori road from Minowabashi Station in a lively atmosphere.

Held annually for three days on July 6th-8th around the Tanabata Festival, the Iriya Asagao Matsuri is a Shitamachi summer event. Over 100 vendors display about 120,000 morning glory plants at Iriya Kishimojin (Shingenji temple) and along the adjacent Kototoi-dori road. The temple is known for Iriya's Kishimojin goddess. Iriya's morning glory market was popular in the Edo Period, but was discontinued until it was revived in 1948. It hails the coming of summer and retains a lot of the Edo flavor.

Since the Muromachi Period, it is believed that when you worship Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) on the 10th of every month, you will receive 100 or 1,000 days worth of blessings. Especially if you worship on July 10th, you supposed to receive 1,000 days worth of blessings. This day was therefore called "1,000-Day Worship." However, at Sensoji temple, it was called "46,000-day worship" since the mid-Edo Period. The Hozuki Ichi Ground Cherry Fair originally started at Atago Shrine in Shiba on the shrine's festival day. A similar fair later also started at Sensoji temple. Sensoji's Hozuki Ichi eventually got bigger than Atago Shrine's. From July 9th, some 120 stalls are set up within the Sensoji temple grounds to display colorful ground cherry plants.

Asakusa Toshi no Ichi is held on December 18th, a special festival day for Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. It is known as the Hagoita Ichi (Battledore Fair) where they sell and display gorgeous Kabuki-themed battledores. During the Edo Period, it was a large market selling mainly New Year's goods and auspicious items at the temple. Eventually, the battledores became the most prominent as they are today. When a customer buys a battledore, the seller claps three times and cheers for the customer's good luck. It is a year-end tradition and scene from the Edo Period.

Held annually on the last Saturday of August, Asakusa Samba Carnival is Japan's biggest samba carnival contest. The samba dance teams have their own impressive routines and gorgeous costumes comparable to the Rio Carnival in Brazil. Competing samba teams are categorized in different leagues depending on their size. The top S1 League has teams with 150 or more members. They also have large floats called "Alegorias." About 500,000 spectators jam the samba parade route from Basha-dori street to Kaminarimon-dori road.

The Nezu Sendagi Shitamachi Matsuri was started by the local people to promote the goodness of the Nezu and Sendagi Shitamachi neighborhoods. With Nezu Shrine as the main venue, the adjacent streets and park are used as secondary venues for festival entertainment and vendors. Highlights include street performers, food stalls, dance and music performances, guided tours of Shitamachi points of interest and historic sites, and collecting rubber stamps on a sheet ("stamp rally"). Shuttle buses also run between each venue.

Held annually in mid-June, Torikoe Matsuri is the main festival of Torikoe Shrine that has a history of over 1,300 years. The festival highlight is the Sengan portable shrine, said to be the largest portable shrine in Tokyo. With lively cheers and many people, the festival is quite a spectacle. In the evening, the portable shrine festooned with paper lanterns entering the shrine led by tall pole lanterns is an impressive sight.